The Lamplighters
As seen:
By Emma Stonex, Indira Varma, and and, Tom Burke
avg rating
2 reviews
This audiobook is narrated by Indira Varma and Tom Burke.
As recommended by the BBC Radio 2 Book Club
‘A mystery, a love story and a ghost story, all at once. I didn’t want it to end’ – S J Watson
They say we’ll never know what happened to those men.
They say the sea keeps its secrets . . .
Cornwall, 1972. Three keepers vanish from a remote lighthouse, miles from the shore. The entrance door is locked from the inside. The clocks have stopped. The Principal Keeper’s weather log describes a mighty storm, but the skies have been clear all week.
What happened to those three men, out on the tower? The heavy sea whispers their names. The tide shifts beneath the swell, drowning ghosts. Can their secrets ever be recovered from the waves? Twenty years later, the women they left behind are still struggling to move on. Helen, Jenny and Michelle should have been united by the tragedy, but instead it drove them apart. And then a writer approaches them. He wants to give them a chance to tell their side of the story. But only in confronting their darkest fears can the truth begin to surface . . . Inspired by real events, The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex is an intoxicating and suspenseful mystery, an unforgettable story of love and grief that explores the way our fears blur the line between the real and the imagined. TweetReviews
Based on a true story of 3 disappearing Lighthouse Keepers. Well worth a read.
One of the better audiobooks I have "read". For some reason I kept picturing Morvern Christie reading the women's parts, so she became those characters at times even though I knew it was Indira Varma speaking - but her voice acting was great. Tom Burke though - his changes were incredibly subtle, and there were more interweaving of characters in his parts due to the three lighthouse keepers (and Sid) all bouncing off one another in that confined Maiden - which is a haunting character all its own. Outstanding work. The story itself? It's a strange little tale, part The Gallows Pole or The North Water - that gritty, earthy, brutal men's world reimagined - and part domestic drama/mystery, with some odd humour tics thrown in. But I really enjoyed it, although the ending (although unexpected - always love a twist) didn't feel the most immediate, therefore arresting, way to "tie up the loose ends" - but that is what I love about the subjectiveness of giving yourself up to someone else's story, someone else's world. All I will say is, it makes my simultaneous romanticisation and fear of lighthouses all the more acute. The more you fear something, the more you long for it...
